Another Mouth to Feed
by YellowRocksMySocks
Summary: What started as just another ding-dong-ditch turns into a life-changing problem when Beth and Steve open a basket left on their porch. Sorry for the bad summary the story is interesting I promise!
1. Ding-Dong-Ditch?

**Hey there! Here is another story! PLEASE give me ideas for the various antics any of the Avengers or Beth could get into due to the surprise addition you read about down below...Thanks again and I really enjoy your ideas!**

I was in the kitchen making a sandwich with Steve. Everyone else had gone out to do a list of errands a mile long. Since Steve and I had done the grocery shopping the past couple times, we got to stay home. I was definitely glad. Going to the grocery store with Tony was always difficult. Every little thing would catch his eye and he would whine until we bought it. I swear he's an overgrown, genius four year old.

I took a giant bite of my roast beef and cheese sandwich and walked over to the table with the bag of chips as Steve followed with the drinks. We sat down and ate in comfortable silence. Steve and I often ate this simple meal together. It was nice to just sit down and share a bag of Salt and Vinegar Lays and chat with my big brother. He'd usually ask me about school or some 21 century thing that interested him. Most of the time I would ask him to tell a story about growing up in the forties or various battles he had fought.

"The Howling Commandos sound like an interesting bunch of people..." I comment after Steve told me about the night he busted them out of a Hydra prison.

He chuckled. "They sure were. Some of the best soldiers I have ever met too. Definitely had a fighting spirit."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"I wonder who that is." Steve said. "The gang just walks right in."

"I'll go see who it is." I say and brush the chip dust of my fingers as I walk to the door.

I look through the peep hole. There's nobody there. "Probably just another ding dong ditch..." I mutter as I open the door to catch the little twerps. Nobody is around. I sigh and am just about to close the door when I hear a whimper. I look outside again and notice a basket at the edge of the porch with a blanket inside. The blanket rustles and I hear another whimper.

"Oh my goodness." I walk over to the basket. _Please just be a puppy. _I think.

I lift the blanket to reveal a baby. It squirms around until it focuses on my face and starts to babble. Sitting on its stomach is an envelope, with "The Avengers" written in cursive on the front.

_This can't be happening..._I think, unable to comprehend the fact that someone has left their baby on our porch. Presumably for us to keep. I sit down next to the basket and give the baby my fingers to play with, hoping it doesn't start wailing. I grab the envelope with my other hand and twiddle it in my fingers. "Hey Steve?" I call through the doorway, my voice sounding all weird. "It wasn't ding dong ditchers at our door..."

Steve pops his head out the front door. His eyes grow wide as saucers. "What the...?" is all he says.

**Just throw some ideas right in that box!**


	2. The Letter

"What are we gonna do?" Steve asked me as we were sitting side by side on the couch, staring at the baby crawling on the carpet. So far nothing too crazy had happened; the baby just moved around and would gurgle every once and awhile.

I snorted. "I don't have a clue." I say with a wave of my hand at _a stranger's child_ scooting around on the carpet. "That's somebody else's kid. Why the heck they would leave a baby on our doorstep I'll never know..."

"Do you wanna call the gang or should we wait until they get home?" Steve asked.

"Yikes. I hadn't even thought about them yet." I replied. "I think we should call them. Somehow I think coming home to a random baby won't go over well..." I say and grab my phone out of my pocket. I open Facetime and call Pepper. She answers on the third ring.

"Hey. Do you need anything?" she asked pleasantly, directing the phone at her face but keeping her eyes on the road...

"Uh, yeah." I answer, not really sure about how I'm gonna break it to her that Steve and I have become the baby sitters of a child we found on our doorstep. "Is everyone with you?" I inquire.

"Yep. We finished everything and are on our way home." she replied, with everyone else voicing some sort of greeting. "Here, I'll let you talk to Bruce." he said and handed the phone to him.

"Hey there." Bruce said. "What's up?"

I closed my eyes and frowned. "Um, I'm just gonna be blunt. Steve and I were eating lunch and then somebody rang the doorbell and we thought it was ding-dong-ditchers but when I went outside there was this basket and inside there was somebody's baby with a letter to 'The Avengers' and Steve and I brought it inside and it is currently crawling around on the carpet!" I say all in one breath. There's no response so I crack open an eye to see Bruce just staring at the phone. Nobody else in the car was speaking either.

Finally, Bruce swallowed and cleared his throat. "Okay." he said very slowly. "Have you read the letter?" he asked.

"Nope. I figured that we would once y'all got home." I answer.

He coughs. "Well, we're turning onto the driveway." he says matter-of-factly.

BREAK

"Dear Avengers, her name is Samantha and she is 8 months old. I am at a point in my life where I can't take care of her. Maybe I never will be. So I gave her to you. I figured that the world's best superheroes could take care of my child. She isn't very fussy, unless it's time for a bath. She still hasn't gotten used to them yet. Her favorite kind of baby food is the pureed carrots. If I ever am able to care for her again I will come back. Thank you from the bottom of my heart." I finish reading, us all gathered around apparently Samantha. "This is insane. I can't believe someone just gave us her baby." I add.

"There's no name or anything?" Tony asked as he took the letter. I shook my head. He scanned the page. "So we have no idea who this Baby belongs to either."

"What shall we do?" Thor asked. "Lady Pepper, do you have any ideas?" he asked, turning to the strawberry blonde.

She sighed and shook her head as well. "I have no idea. I guess we'll just have to take care of her until S.H.I.E.L.D. can find her mom..." she suggests.

Samantha stops crawling and sits up. She starts chewing on her hand, drooling everywhere. Samantha had a tuft of light blonde hair and bright blue eyes. You couldn't say she wasn't cute. She was wearing a yellow onesie with a duck on it. Suddenly, she stopped chewing on her fingers and started reaching up at me, making these little grunting noises.

I scooped her up. She looked right at me and then grabbed a chunk of my hair, studying it. "Hi Samantha." I say. She looked back at my face. "You're cute, but what are we gonna do with you?" I ask, more to the group as I look around.


	3. Changing Table

"I had diapers, food, clothes, toys and other baby care items delivered." Pepper announced as she typed on her Blackberry. "The others should be bringing it up any minute."

"Awesome." I reply as I bounce Samantha on my knee. She looks at me and giggles. I laugh. "You are so cute!" I say. I sigh. "Why would your mommy leave you here?" I ask her. She just drools and pats me on the face.

Just then the guys started carrying in the baby stuff. Thor was carrying a crib in one arm and a swing in the other. Steve had a stroller and a huge box of clothes. Clint and Bruce were both carrying boxes of baby food and bottle formula. Natasha was carrying a box of toys, blankets, and things of that nature. Tony brought up the rear with an industrial case of Huggies.

"Wow. That's an awful lot of stuff..." I comment as I walk over with Samantha on my hip.

"We wanted to be prepared." Clint said. "Since we don't really know how long she's gonna be with us." He replied as he set his box on the floor next to the others.

"Yeah. Makes sense." I say. Samantha started fussing. I began bouncing her. "Probably needs her diaper changed. Can y'all set up the changing table quickly?" I ask.

Not a minute later I was changing Samantha's diaper in the side room. I began putting a fresh one on her.

"Gross." Tony said with a smirk from the doorway.

I scoff at him. "Grow up. Babies pee and poop just like the rest of us." I say and button Samantha's onesie. I pick her up. "Feel better now?" I ask her. She grunted in response.

I walk out of the room with Tony following. I shoot him a look. "You're gonna have to do your fair share of diaper changing too ya know." I point out. "I'm not doing every time."

"So how much do you know about babies?" Tony asked, changing the subject. "You seem like you know everything."

I chuckled. "Definitely not everything." I reply. "I did a child development class sophomore year and I've babysat my younger cousin."

Tony smiled. "So I'm assuming you know the basic do's and don'ts? Like to not throw the baby and to not give her scotch in her bottle?" He said.

I burst out laughing. "Yeah. I know the basics."

BREAK

I was eating a late dinner as I watched Pepper play with Samantha on the floor. Pepper had a teddy bear and was bouncing it around, making Samantha laugh and grab it.

"How long do you think she will stay here?" I ask from my seat.

Pepper hands the teddy bear to Samantha and watches her contentedly chew on its ear. "I have no idea." She replied. "While she is a sweetheart, it's not exactly ideal to have an eight month old around the Tower..."

I chuckle softly. "Yeah." I say to my pizza.


	4. Goodnight Moon

**Hello again! Here is chapter four! I hope you enjoy! Shout out and thanks to WhatTheValhalla for the Clint section. Please give me ideas like WhatTheValhalla did, because I need them! Happy Reading!**

I was walking from the hall bathroom to my bedroom when I noticed the kitchen light was still on. I sighed. _Probably Thor forgetting to turn it off after a midnight snack..._I thought.

I round the corner to find Steve bottle-feeding Samantha as he walked around and around the island.

"Do you like that?" Steve asked her in this high-pitched voice. "Wow, you sure are hungry..." he added after Samantha had almost downed the bottle.

I step inside. "Did she wake you up?" I asked him.

Steve jumped. "Jeez, Beth. A little warning next time?" he said with a chuckle. "Yeah. I had crashed on the couch since my fan is still broken. She started crying about half an hour ago."

I scooted up onto the counter next to him. "I heard you talking to her before. How are you so good with babies?" I ask. "I thought you were an only child..."

"I was." he said. "And I'm not that good. It took me ten minutes to figure out how to hold her properly to feed her..." he replied.

Samantha finished the bottle and started making those fussy sounds. "Guess it's time to burp her..." he announced. He set the bottle on the counter. "Uh, how do I hold her for this?"

"Situate her so that her head is resting on her shoulder and so that you can pat her back and hold her butt." I instruct and help him. "Oh, and you might wanna put a towel on your shoulder..." I add, and reach for one.

"Why?" Steve asked, patting her back, and Samantha promptly spit up on him. Steve tensed up and squinted his eyes.

I cringed. "Because babies spit up sometimes..." I answered, and hand him the towel. Steve gingerly hands me Samantha and goes over to the sink.

* * *

"Wow! Another clue! Way to go!" I heard coming from the TV in an over-exaggerated voice.

I walk in the room to see Clint sitting on the floor with Samantha in his lap, his hands around her to keep her from crawling away. Surprisingly, she wasn't crying. He was staring at the TV with a glazed expression. _What the heck?_

I stand in front of him. He doesn't move. "Hello! Clint! Earth to Clint!" I shout and snap in his face.

"Ah!" Clint jolts awake from his hypnosis. Samantha giggles. He looks down at her, and then around the room, before finally focusing on me. "How long have I been here?" he asked is this mystified voice.

I look at the clock on the cable box. "It's 3:05." I say.

Clint's eyes widened. "I've been sitting here for four hours watching Blue's Clues..."

I chuckle. "You need a break?" I offer, and sit down next to him. Samantha crawls over into my lap.

Clint looks at her. He smiles ever so slightly. "She was getting fussy, so I brought her in here and turned on that kid's channel." he explained. "I never thought I could become so absorbed..." he said with a chuckle.

I laughed. "Don't sweat it." I assure him. "I was addicted to Thomas the Tank Engine when I was younger. He was the theme of both my second AND third birthday parties."

Clint laughed, but his face suddenly turned serious. "I wonder if we will have her until she's two or three..." he said.

"Who knows?" I reply. "But, that would be nice..."

"Yeah. It would." he agrees.

* * *

Bruce took Samantha out of her highchair and into the "nursery" that had been created in a side room. After changing her into her pajamas, he grabbed one of her books and sat with her in the rocking chair.

"Goodnight room. Goodnight moon. Goodnight cow jumping over the moon..." he began, slowly pushing the chair back and forth with his foot as Samantha looked at the pictures attentively while chewing on her hand.

Bruce loved these quiet times with Samantha. Since he was a medical doctor, he worked with children all the time and enjoyed it immensely. He had thought about having kids of his own plenty of times, but being on the lamb and travelling around the world doesn't exactly give a man a chance to settle down and have a family.

"Goodnight stars. Goodnight air. Goodnight noises everywhere." Bruce finished and looked down to see Samantha fast asleep. He smiled. _Maybe one day I can have one of you with Julia..._he thought. _Probably not anytime soon, though._

He gently set Samantha down in her crib. He took one last look at the family's makeshift daughter and smiled. _Definitely someday..._he thought.

He began walking out the door, but turned around and looked at sleeping Samantha one last time. "Goodnight Samantha." he said and flipped out the light.


End file.
